The mother of an
11-year-old sixth-grader who committed suicide by wrapping an
extension cord around his neck and hanging himself says her
son's death could have been prevented -- he was a victim of
school bullying, she says.
Sirdeaner L. Walker
said she found her son Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover dead on the
second floor of their Springfield, Mass., home. She said he had
endured another day of teasing from his fellow classmates.
"I just want to help
some other child," she said. "I know there are other kids
being picked on, and it's day in and day out."
Carl played football,
basketball, and was a boy scout -- but that didn't stop other
kids from picking on him, his mom said. Students called him gay
and made fun of him for the way he dressed.
Sirdeaner Walker said
she began phoning his school repeatedly when Carl first told
her about the bullying last September, but she says the school
was unresponsive.
In a recent
study of middle-school-aged children, more than 10% reported
they have been victims of bullying. Walker says that she is
angry with the school for not taking action, and she hopes to
make a difference by speaking out.
"If anything can
come of this, it's that another child doesn't have to
suffer like this and there can be some justice for some other
child. I don't want any other parent to go through
this," she said.
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